Mary Hélène Douglas

Mrs Frederick Charles Douglas (Mary-Hélène "Suzette" Baxter) was born in Montréal, Québec on 4 April 1885.

She was the daughter of James Baxter (b. circa 1840), a wealthy diamond merchant and banker originally from Ireland, a Protestant, and the former Hélène de Lenaudière Chaput (1862-1923), of a Québécois family.

She had two siblings, James (b. 25 January 1875) and Quigley Edmond “Quigg” (b. 4 July 1887).

Miss Baxter was raised in the affluent Square Mile district of the city, where everyone called her by the nickname ‘Zette.

She was educated in Convent schools and was an adherent to her Catholic faith. It has been reported that she and her siblings, raised as Catholics, spoke in English to their father and in French to their mother.

The Baxter reputation took a strong bruising in 1900 when ‘Zette’s father was arrested, charged and convicted of embezzlement from his bank, leading to his imprisonment. He died in January 1905 at the family’s St Famille Street residence, leaving his family very comfortably provided for. 

‘Zette was married at her family residence on 15 January 1908 to Frederick Charles Douglas (b. 15 December 1876 in Québec), a physician of Scots descent and Protestant in his religious upbringing¹ and they honeymooned in Florida. The marriage was deemed newsworthy as just shortly after, Archbishop Bruchesi made moves to ban interdenominational marriages taking place in Québec. 

‘Zette's mother financed a medical clinic on St. Famille Street, so Douglas could go into business for himself, and she paid for his post-graduate studies in London in 1910. However, the influence of her mother’s financial assistance reportedly caused strain within the marriage. The couple were shown on the 1911 census at 33 St Famille Street, the Baxter family residence of ‘Zette’s mother and brother.

In the October of 1911 ‘Zette decided, reportedly against her husband's wishes, to go to Europe with her mother to join her younger brother Quigg, a McGill student who had been coaching and playing hockey in Switzerland and France. Mrs Douglas, although no stranger to transatlantic travel, was a timid ocean traveller and once hastily cancelled a crossing only shortly before departure after a presentiment of danger. 

For the return to Montréal and with a stay in Paris under their belt, ‘Zette, her mother and brother boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg as first-class passengers and she shared cabin B-60 (?58) with her mother. Besides that, her brother Quigg had smuggled aboard his clandestine lover, a Belgian cabaret performer whom he had met in Brussels.

In her cabin at the time of the collision, Mrs Douglas heard a man’s voice stating that the ship was going down; she left her cabin to investigate before returning for her mother who was prostrated with seasickness.

A different version of events was also presented by Mrs Douglas regarding her brother:

Mrs Douglas and her mother survived the sinking (probably in lifeboat 6). Although deeply saddened by the loss of her brother, ‘Zette remained stoic to care for her mother who was ravaged with grief for the loss of Quigg, by all accounts her favourite. Mother and daugher were met coming off the Carpathia by ‘Zette’s elder brother James and the pair stayed at the Astor residence before returning to Montréal. Her tempered facade crumbled when reunited with her husband and she broke down in tears in his embrace. 

After ‘Zette returned to Montréal she contracted a mild case of polio and henceforth required a leg brace for mobility. 

The already troubled marriage between ‘Zette and her husband finally unravelled in October 1914 on account of the latter’s infidelity and they were later divorced. Dr Douglas reportedly later became an alcoholic and lost his hospital privileges and eventually moved to Sherbrooke, Québec. He died in 1949. 

After her mother's passing in 1923, ‘Zette began a relationship with an American-born mechanical engineer, Edwin Cole Richardson² (b. 17 July 1884), a former resident of Redlands, San Bernardino, California. They were married on 21 January 1933 in a lowkey ceremony.

Following marriage, the couple resettled in Redlands, California, to a house at 715 West Clark Street. By 1950 the couple were living at 217 West Cypress in Redlands, the home of Richardson’s elder brother John and his wife. Edwin was there employed as an engineer at Norton Air Field Base.

According to her nephew, Suzette lived surrounded by "mothballs and memories," until her death in Redlands on 31 December 1954. She is buried in Hillside Memorial Park, Redlands (Block Original 05, lot 1041, Space 5) as Suzette Baxter Richardson.

Her widower Edwin Cole Richardson died exactly nine years after her on 31 December 1963; he was cremated and their remains were buried side by side.